Habitat for Humanity
On Saturday, October 25th, Lynn and I got up early in the morning (a rarity for us) so we could volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. My mom arrived at the house at 7:15 a.m. to watch the kids for the day and Lynn and I were out the door by 7:30 a.m. on our way to Carpentersville to work on a Duplex being constructed by Habitat. For those of you who don’t know, Habitat for Humanity is a program that builds homes for people who would not ordinarily be able to afford one. The homeowner does assume a mortgage; however, it is interest free, and the cost of the home is lower due to the support of the volunteers that help to build it. In addition to the mortgage, the new homeowners are required to put in 500 hours of “sweat” equity into their home.
The day we chose to participate through our church, was forecast to be on the chilly side with a high midday around 50 degrees. While it didn’t rain on us during the day, rain from the previous day resulted in very muddy conditions. We arrived just before our 8:00 a.m. start and the day was scheduled to end at 4:00 p.m. In all, about 25 people were there to lift a hammer, run a saw, or help carry supplies including the soon to be homeowners of each half of the duplex. When we arrived we signed our waivers which I now realize I should have read more carefully, more on that later, and we divided into groups. Some of the teams went inside to continue framing of walls while Lynn, Melissa, Brian, and I joined Lance on the north side of the house to work on the siding.
Now, I have to mention that the location for the home site is part of the Fox River Valley and as such, the lot slopes steeply from the back of the lot to the front. In fact, from the backyard the house would appear to be a ranch, while from the street side, you see that the home is in fact two stories with about 5 steps up from ground level just to get to the front door. Now picture the 20 foot drop on the side of the house from the back of the home to the front along with all of that mud from the rain. It’s not too hard to see the adventure! Combined with the ten inch scaffolding I was soon to be standing on 15 feet off the ground with no rail support, I soon began to wonder about that waiver I had just signed. Now I have to point out that before we divided into groups, our foreman did ask for volunteers and made a point to say that if we ever felt uncomfortable with the height we should get down and that there was no shame in that. The truth is that I like challenges, and while there were times throughout the day that I felt uneasy, by the end of the day, I really did feel comfortable up there.
We learned how to attach the vinyl siding and hammer the nails in properly without driving them home so that the siding would have some wiggle room to move as it needed to with changes in weather. I spent most of my day high off of the ground while Lynn and others on the team cut and carried pieces of the siding up to Lance and I to attach to the house. We took a short break for a wonderful hot lunch prepared by the women of Trinity Lutheran Church before resuming our persistent march up the side of the house. Once we got up to the overhang, we attached the soffit and fascia to complete the siding on the north side. It had taken all day and then some. We finished at about 4:30 and Lynn, Lance and I were the last volunteers to leave for the day. Everyone else had left around 4:00 p.m., but Lance and I really wanted to finish what we had set out to get done that day.
Volunteering to build the home was a very rewarding experience. We made new friends, learned new skills, and felt a great sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. In fact, when our church goes back in two weeks, Lynn and I plan to be there again, with hammer in hand. I’m even hoping to get up on that scaffolding on the south side of the house if they haven’t finished the siding by then. But who knows, maybe I’ll even be lucky enough to get up on top of the roof to lay the shingles.
Huntley Daddy Daughter Dance
Emma, Izzy and I attended our first Huntley Park District Daddy Daughter dance on Saturday, October 18th. First we enjoyed dinner together at Cheesburger in Paradise which is Emma’s favroite restaurant for a “formal” dinner. Emma had the Grilled Cheesy while I feasted on the Classic Paradise Burger. I have to admit though that I opted for the Veggie Burger pattie and the Teryaki Broccoli instead of fries. My entree might sound boring but I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor explosion. Emma and I both shared our meals with Izzy who seemed to definitely prefer the Grilled Cheesy sandwich.
After dinner we headed to the Huntley Park District Rec center. About 150 Dads brought their daughters to the dance. The girls ranged in age from toddler to teenager, but they all could cut a rug. Isabelle did not want to hold Emma’s hand while we danced in a circle, so instead I took turns dancing with each of them individually, twirling and swinging them around. The gym was nicely decorated, but we soon got warm so we took a break to partake of the red punch, cookies and cupcakes. One of the refreshment tables had a jar of gumballs and we had to guess how many were in the jar. Emma guessed 200, while I put a guess of 554 in for Izzy. Of course, the math geek that I am, I had to count how many layers there were and how many gumballs there were across the center of the cylinder. Using pi*radius-squared times the number of rows, I came up with my “guess”. So, did I win? You’ll have to wait until the end of the evening like I did to find out.
I ran across a few other dads that I know. Hal from Trinity was there and said hi, but like me was soon running after his daughter to catch up. I also recognized a father from one of the students in Aidan’s preschool class last year. Everyone seemed to have a great time and all of the dads were out there giving it their all. Then came a break so that we could get pictures with our date(s) for the evening. Part of our admission included a polaroid picture and a cardboard frame. Nothing too fancy, but a nice keepsake of the evening.
Of course I brought my camera as well and was snapping pictures all evening. Lynn is an avid scrapbooker and I try to do my part to contribute. It’s the least I can do for the amount of effort Lynn puts into the scrapbooks for our children. I’ll have to write a post sometime on that topic alone. She really does a wonderful job! I also tried using my video camera on my cell phone so I could upload to Facebook, but the gym was too dimly lit for the dance to be able to see anything on the video.
We did some group dances, starting with the Chicken Dance. Emma really got into it and Izzy started catching on by the end. Next was the Hokey Pokey and I started looking around to see how much the other dads were getting into it. Some of them were like me and fluttering their hands and shaking their backsides as they did the Hokey Pokey while others pretended to be too cool to particpate and let their kids do the motions without them. I was disappointed that the latter group didn’t show more effort. We were there to have fun with our kids after all, but not everyone is comfortable in letting loose on the dance floor. Next the DJ announced a conga line and all of the girls started snaking their way around the gym.
Emma jumped into the conga line while I went to dance with Izzy who was starting to get a little crabby. Fortunately, Emma ran into a fellow Brownie member of her Girl Scout troop and the rest of the evening they had fun running around, introducing their dads (I met Vince), and dancing. I was glad to get the chance to meet another dad. Vince was a good guy. You could tell he grew up in Chicago (Da Bears! anyone) and I found out he is a police officer for the Chicago PD. Good guy to know.
The evening wound down around 8:00 and they announced the winner of the gumballs. It wasn’t me. The correct amount was 496 and the winner guessed 497. He must have used a ruler to perform a more accurate measurement than I did. We had a great time though. Lot’s of dancing and spending quality time with my daughters. It was time very well spent. The best part of the evening though was that as we left Emma took the time to tell me how much she loved me. The perfect end to the evening!
The Running Man (redux)
After taking 5 weeks off from running, I was itching to hit the streets again. My season started last November after a one year layoff and culminated with the Crystal Lake Half Marathon in which I set a personal record of one hour and 32 minutes. 10 months of hard training, two half marathons and five 5Ks took their toll and I was ready to take a breather. The problem is that I only meant for it to be a week or two off.
What I found is that without a race scheduled on my calendar, I found it too easy to skip the run and hit the couch or the computer. Two weeks quickly became three and I found myself saying that I’d start a program again next week. Today I said a little prayer for motivation and what turned out to be a rather sullen day at work got ended with me running out the door into the crisp evening air and onto the road on the way to choir practice.
I brought my handy Garmin GPS and ran to the church which is 1.75 miles away from my house if I take the most direct route. Of course, running down highway 47 in the dark is not the smartest thing to do, but I was feeling euphoric as I was once again out there running. After another prayer that the drivers were paying attention I veered off onto Chruch street and headed into town feeling quite a bit safer. The temperature was about 55 degrees and there was no wind; the perfect weather for running.
I felt the tightness in my chest as my lungs struggled to take in enough oxygen to meet the needs I was putting on my body. This was not unexpected. Even with all of the training I’ve done this year, I knew that a month layoff would result in a great decline in cardiovascular endurance. I’ve read that for every week that a runner takes off, that two weeks are needed to regain the same level of performance. Now that I put in five miles this evening (I took the long way home from choir practice), I feel like I’ve turned the corner, and I even told Lynn that I’m planning to run the Resolution Run 5K in Lincoln Park again this year. Already I’m plotting my next race so I can keep to a regular running regimen.
Choir practice tonight was good. We have a new member of the choir and I’m no longer the youngest member of Partners in Praise. It’s good to have someone new. We sang the pieces we’ve been working on for Reformation and Thanksgiving, and then Alyse pulled out the 5 new pieces she recently ordered. You could tell how excited she was to have some new music. They were quite challenging from my perspective. I’ve never been a good sight reader to begin with, and some of the notes are out of my normal range. It’s unusual for my tenor parts to include the high F. I can hit them with falsetto without a problem, but Lynn likes to make fun of my falsetto pointing out that I sound like a woman, so I try to avoid it. Anyway, the pieces are quite lovely and I do like a challenge. I ran the 3 miles home with my music folder tucked under my arm so I can practice them at home before next week’s practice.
OK, it’s time to end today’s entry. I only meant to take a few minutes to recap choir practice and got carried away. Something to do with that passion I have for running. I need to make sure I get to bed early enough so that my body has enough time to recover from tonight’s run. The Lord knows that I need it to keep myself healthy and energized every day. I’ll continue to pray for the motivation and the races I need to keep at it.
Friendship Sunday, Proclaim Sings, and Bake Sale
This past Sunday was very busy for our family. The Evangelism Board which Kevin is a part of sponsored Friendship Sunday and the Habitat for Humanity team which Lynn is a part of sponsored a bake sale / pumpkin sale fundraiser. With both events occuring simultaneously, we were up extra early on Sunday morning so that we could arrive at church by the end of the 8:00 a.m. service. Kevin greeted and handed out tokens of appreciation to guests attending Friendship Sunday services while Lynn was there to help with the bake sale. On top of it all, the Proclaim praise choir which Kevin and Emma, our oldest daughter, are part of sang at the 10:30 a.m. contemporary service. Kevin even participated in a drama presentation entitled The Running Man which was quite entertaining.
Friendship Sunday was a success! The 10:30 a.m. service was nearly full and we were excited that guests from our community got to experience our contemporary service which is held on the first Sunday of every month. The Proclaim choir lead the congregation in Praise music and the song Holy and Mighty was sung which is one of Emma’s favorite songs. She really gets into singing, and you can tell that music is becoming a passion for Emma much like it is for her Dad. Emma even played a little pre-service music on the piano. She played Ode to Joy which she has been working hard on at home. Her performance even drew applause from the congregation which was great to hear because for all the frustration sometimes involved in practicing, Emma got the chance to feel the satisfaction of hard work paying off. She was smiling from ear to ear as she heard the acknowledgement for a job well done.
In the Running Man skit, Kevin played the role of, guess what, the running man. I think Kevin might be a bit typecast as he is known for the many miles he logs on the roads around Huntley. Nonetheless, the skit was entertaining combining some comedy with, of course, a message. The skit was about how God gives us the strength to continue even when we may feel ready to give up. After running in place for a few minutes as part of the skit, Kevin had to immediately rejoin the choir for Higher Ground which really got his heart going!
The bake sale and pumpkin sale were a tremendous success raising $650 for Habitat for Humanity. The church has two dates currently planned to help build homes in the Carpentersville area for those in need. We’re excited that Trinity is a part of this great ministry and we’re looking forward to bringing a hammer along to do our part. The response from the congregation has been tremendous with over twenty people already volunteering for the first date in late October and the date in early November is filling up quickly as well.
We feel truly blessed to be a part of the family at Trinity. The opportunities to perform God’s work are plentiful and we’re thankful for those many opportunities that he has given to our family to serve. Experiencing all of the activity of a Sunday morning like this past weekend may seem a bit chaotic in the moment as we get our young children ready to go out the door to get to “the church on time”, but reflecting now on the marvelous opportunities that God has given to us is uplifting. We really feel that what we give in service to our Savior is given back to us tenfold.
First Partners in Praise Performance
This past weekend Kevin sang at the 10:30 a.m. service at Trinity with Partners in Praise. Sunday morning was a little bit hectic in the household. After the Movie in the Park(ing lot) at church on Saturday night, Emma had a sleepover so there was an extra child to get ready before going to church. On top of that, Kevin had to get to church early for another run through with the choir before their first performance of the fall. Thankfully, the family was able to pull together and get ready on time and the neighbor was on time in picking up her daughter so that Kevin could get to church by 10:15 a.m.
The choir sang Open My Eyes, Spirit Divine just before the Old Testament reading. Kevin was also the reader at the service so he hurried down the stairs from the balcony to the front of the church for the readings. Kevin had used the extra time between the choir rehersal and the start of the service to go over the readings for the week, a duty he always takes very seriously. He always takes the time to ensure he’s prepared to present God’s word to the best of his abilitiy. A little out of breath from rushing downstairs, Kevin delivered the readings with his usual narrative style striving to make the passages clear and meaningful to the congregation.
After the service as Lynn and Kevin were picking up the kids from Sunday School, another Dad out of the blue complimented Kevin on his speaking abilities. At first Kevin thought he was going to say something about the choir, but soon realized that the compliment was directed at the readings. It really felt good to be acknowledged by a stranger for something that Kevin makes a point to work on when it’s his turn to read God’s word. Thank you God, for the encouragement!